Alternative wheels

[Triumph_blue]

As time marches on, the original wheels on my '73 TR6 start to loose their roundness. Over the years I have replaced quite a few. Now I think it is time to move into a better quality wheel. I hope I don't offend anyone out there when I say that I'm not a fan of the Minilite or Panasport wheels. I like the old style American Racing or Cragar wheels. To use these wheels adaptors must be used to go to a 5-bolt wheel pattern. I did see a real nice set of Weld Racing Wheels on a TR6 that made the cover of the 6-PACK magazine in the spring issue of 2005. Does anyone out there have these wheels on their ride. If so, can you give me any information about them, model numbers, price etc. Do any of you have a wheel you can recommend for me to take a look at.
Thanks,
Frank

 

[rooster]

Hi Frank,

I just cam across your post and I've been looking at the same thing. I also have a fondness for the Cragar vintage style wheels. A few years ago I saw a TR6 with a set of the vintage Cragars (I cant remember if they were 4 or 5 lugs though) at the Stowe all British Field meet.

I think the only way you could get these type of wheels to fit it to get an adaptor, but a lot of folks don't recommend them, and the tire wheel places also don't recommend them. But a lot of racers use them so I'm not sure if there is a problem or not.

One thing that might help you is that I believe that the Datasun Z cars had the same bolt pattern and offset as a TR6 and I have seen a couple of TR6's using Datsun wheels.

A couple of links to checkout on this subject:

TR6 wheel choices
(the above is a little out of date, you can get up to 17 inch wheels now for ealier z cars)

Z car tech dicussions

Z to honda adaptors: Z to honda adaptors

There was also a place that had a lot of different types of wheels to go on a Z, but I have lost the link. I'm sure Google will turn up a lot of stuff also.

If you like the stock wheels, one thing I did was to get the wheels and tires "Road force" balanced, find a place that has a "Hunter Road Force balancer" and get them balanced. It costs about 100 bucks but it makes a huge difference to how the car rides.(I did it on my car and I can out off purchasing new wheels for a couple of years)

Hope this helps.

 

[rooster]

Here's the link to the wheels I mentioned above.

 

[michalotti_tr]

Hi Frank,

I too wanted something different than the usual wire wheel or Panasport/Minilite available for the TR, so I've mounted some Mustang Bullet wheels on my TR4A. I had to get 2-piece adapters, but these worked because they took up the difference in wheel offset perfectly. With the 245/45-17 tires that came with the tires they fill the wheel wells perfectly plus give you a lot more contact patch to improve handling as well

 

[billspit]

I would bet that American Racing made wheels to fit the cars years ago. I have friend that found some used ones that fit his Alpine 20 years ago. Problem is these would be so old now that they might not be worth looking for. You might check Revolution Wheels. They make a four spoke wheel that is different from the Panasport/minilight clones.

 

[bobh]

Raymond,
Where did you get the 2 piece adapters?
Bob

 

[Alan_Myers]

Hi,

Generally speaking you'll find 4- and 8-spoke wheels to fit 4-lug patterns, 5- and 10-spoke wheels for 5-lug.

I'm leery of using wheel adapters. For one, it will be quite critical to get the right off-set in the wheel, and the thickness of any adapters will effect that and need to be taken into account. The wheels might need to be machined to accommodate the adapters, which seem sort of the wrong way around to me. Adapters also just seem to be adding complexity and possible weak points, in a very critical area. Finally, adapters add some unsprung weight, which never improves handling.

Instead, if I wanted to fit a five or ten spoke wheel, I think I'd have the hubs redrilled and new lug studs put in. This would be a much better installation, IMHO.

 

[Triumph_blue]

Rooster,
Thanks for taking the time to put that information together. In that link you included, there was a set of wheels from MSA called Flashback Slotted Wheels. They have that classic look of the old Ansen slotted wheels. I just might consider those as a possibility.

 

[Triumph_blue]

Alan,
Take a look at this link. These guys have been doing this for a long time.
https://www.skulte.com/adapterfaq.html

 

[Triumph_blue]

Bob,
You might find this interesting.
www.skulte.com

 

[michalotti_tr]

[ QUOTE ]
Raymond,
Where did you get the 2 piece adapters?
Bob

[/ QUOTE ]

I ordered them from JK Motorsports (www.jkwheels.com).

the fronts were 1 5/8", the rears were 2" made from 6065 aluminum to minimize added weight.

 

[rooster]

Hi Frank,

I'm partial to the slotted wheels too. I've seen a photo of them on a TR6 and they looked good.

Cheers

Todd

 

[bobh]

Thanks guys.